11/13/10

This is the week of goal setting and New Year's resolutions. Before I get caught up in a never ending list of lofty goals, I like to tackle a few easy projects that I know I can finish before January even begins. Here's a few ideas to help spring you into your organization frenzy!

Clean out that make-up surplus.

Time to get rid of the excess. If you're like me, you have your staple eye-liner, shadow, and blush. I try new things but always manage to revert back to my staples. Well, why keep it if you don't use it. Throw out anything you haven't worn in the last 2 weeks (okay, maybe 3 weeks if you count Christmas week).

This includes the gajillion bottles of nail polish you bought for special occasions that aren't that special anymore and are half used up. I have 3 basic colors... done.

Clean out your lingerie drawers.

Nylons with runs, socks without matches, panties that don't fit anymore... even when you suck in... bra's that you don't use... you get the idea. Why keep more in that drawer to search through? Less is more (calming). Simplify.

Inventory your first aid and medicine supplies.

If you like me, you have 6 kids all of whom have got ill while you're on vacation, necessitating another purchase of ibuprofen or allergy medicine. (Okay, maybe you only have half as many kids but they always get sick when you're on vacation!) The result is a collection of half used medicines.

Take inventory. Can you combine 2 of the same kinds of medicine and toss a bottle? Are there a few past expirations? Are you keeping empty packages of band aids (my kids raid the stash but never toss the box or tell me we're out.) or holding onto prescriptions that you haven't used since your last childbirth? Make room for the new year and de-clutter the first aid box.

Toss the junk in your junk drawer.

If you haven't used it in a reasonable amount of time... it really IS junk! Toss the odds and ends, the broken whatchamacallit you meant to glue ages ago, and feel your guilt flee! You can organize it in pretty organizers later... just pare down the clutter.

Photo credit:Martha Stewart.com

Weed out your closet.

Photo courtesy of Lane Bryant/Closet Maid

It doesn't take a great deal of effort to say, "No, I haven't worn that for 2 years." Don't bother organizing the closet. Just get rid of the clothes that you don't regularly use. This is a great liberation ladies. I'm queen of this. After 6 kiddos, I have clothes in EVERY size. Literally. Fat clothes, not-so-fat clothes, pretty much happy with this size clothes, wish I were that size clothes, and I remember when I was THAT size clothes. They're officially gone. Simplified! Now my closet is really ready to tackle when the real organization bug hits in January!

3 comments:

How did you simplify your wardrobe? I've got maternity clothes, clothes-that-only-fit-post-partum, clothes-that-used-to-fit, clothes-that-will-fit-once-the-pregnancy-pounds-come-off (and I'm on my way down now)...you get the idea. I just don't know what to keep. We are still expanding our family, so the maternity clothes need to stay (in a bin under the bed), I tend to weed out the fat clothes that only fit in those first post-partum months, and then replace again after the next baby (so expensive!) and right now I'm kind of between stages.